STANFORD, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky mayor was killed when a lawnmower rolled on top of him while he was cutting grass on city property, according to a coroner.
Stanford Mayor Scottie Ernst died following the accident on Tuesday afternoon, Lincoln County Coroner Farris Marcum said.
Marcum said Ernst stepped off the edge of a creek bank and the mower rolled down the embankment onto him.
The mayor regularly did mowing duties for the city, according to the coroner.
“He never was afraid to get his hands dirty helping out where he could,” The Herald-Leader quoted Marcum as saying.
Ernst was elected mayor of Stanford in 2018 after serving nearly 15 years on the City Council, officials said in a statement, calling him “a true example of servant leadership.”
“This community is in mourning right now. Everybody is in shock,” Marcum told news outlets, adding that the death was a “freak accident.”
The city of nearly 4,000 people is about 55 miles (89 kilometers) south of Frankfort.
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